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Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Wood- Working Machinery, on the 10th and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, Editor and Manager 

 Edwin W. Meeker\^ 

 Hu Maxwell J 



f-Associate Editors 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



NBW 



eoTAP 



«AKC 



Vol. XXXVI 



CHICAGO, APRIL 25, 1913 



No. 1 



'^yiroa^M^»aOT?m!l^roTOTOi^i^'M!^^ 



Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



THE DEMORALIZATION of the hardwood manufacturing and 

 consuming industries resulting from the floods and general high 

 waters immediately prior to the last issue of Hardwood Record 

 is now practically a thing of the past. By Herculean efforts the 

 various sawmills, yards and remanufacturing factories in the flooded 

 area have straightened up their shops and their lumber piles and 

 ■have gotten their operations into smooth running order again. 



The extent of the flood in the Mississippi valley was a pleasant 

 ■disappointment to hardwood manufacturers in that territory. It 

 was confidently predicted while the Mississippi was rising that 

 the extent of and resultant damage from the flood would surpass 

 by far that of last year. However, while in most places the 

 Iiigh water surpassed that of the last serious flood, its detri- 

 mental effects upon the lumber business were nowhere near those 

 affected a year ago. 



In the first place, the breaks in the Arkansas levee section were 

 not so serious as before and as a result the area flooded was not 

 so extensive. Furthermore, profiting by previous experience, saw- 

 mill operators wherever possible removed every stick of lumber 

 that they could ship or find a dry place for; consequently there 

 is a comparatively small percentage of flooded stock to be mar- 

 keted this year. The damage in the previous flood was not so 

 much from actual loss of lumber as it was from the degrading of 

 .stock due to its being immersed and covered with sand and silt. 

 In this year's flood most of the big manufacturers anticipated the 

 high water long enough ahead to either load their stock on cars 

 for shipment to distant points or remove it to high ground. 

 While the expense of this extra operation was, of course, enor- 

 mous, still it is inconsequential as compared to the loss that 

 would have resulted if the lumber had been flooded. 



There is, however, one feature which, while it does not seem 

 to have assumed the importance given to it by some lumbermen, 

 has unquestionably had some effect upon general market condi- 

 tions, — namely, in order to remove as much lumber as possible 

 from the reach of the high water, the sawmill men shipped large 

 ■quantities of their stock to various distributing points either in 

 advance of or in anticipation of orders. When the latter condi- 

 tion prevailed, they necessarily were forced to concentrate their 

 efforts on the sale of this stock in the territory to which it was 

 shipped and undoubtedly a good deal of such lumber was taken 

 lup by large buyers at bargain prices. It may be that the slight 

 easing off in demand which is spoken of in some quarters at 

 (present can be traced at least partially to this cause. 



The basis of the lumber business on the whole, however, is un- 



questionably firm. While, as stated, the average run of orders 

 is not as u/gent as it was a few weeks ago, still this condition 

 can be accounted for in other ways than by the supposition that 

 the supply exceeds the demand. The firmness with which the 

 market is holding throughout the country is pretty conclusive 

 proof that there is no excess of dry lumber at any point. The 

 benefits to the lumber trade resulting from the floods are being 

 felt more directly now than immediately after the recession of 

 the water. Calls for immense quantities of stock are coming in 

 from those middlewestcrn states most affected and, while it is 

 true that the distributing centers in that territory are taking care 

 of the bulk of the business, still this work will have a favorable 

 effect upon the entire trade as it will remove from the general 

 market the stock going into rebuilding and repairs in that sec- 

 tion. The wholesale element is still reporting extreme difficulty in 

 securing anywhere near the amount of dry lumber that it can use. 

 In fact, a number of wholesale houses, which under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances are rushed to take care of the business, are now prac- 

 tically compelled to loaf on their jobs simply because there is no 

 lumber with which to do business. 



It is anticipated that during the next few weeks considerable 

 quantities of northern hardwoods of the winter's cut will be 

 shipped. In fact, several cargoes have already been received at 

 lake points, but they have been mainly of basswood, the maple 

 and birch not yet being ready for shipment. 



One feature of the general situation which is extremely en- 

 couraging is the report of unusually extensive building operations 

 coming from almost every important city in the Middle West. 

 The building trades are now opening up in good shape, and in 

 addition a large amount of work which has been going on during 

 the winter is now being finished up and is ready for furnishing. 

 Thus, there is. a stimulated demand, not only for general lines of 

 building material, but also for furniture. 



The relative positions of the various important hardwoods of 

 the country, which have prevailed for some time, are still being 

 maintained with the exception of wide poplar which seems to be 

 improving steadily in value and demand. 



Summarizing, while the buying trade generally is showing some 

 little hesitancy about placing large orders ahead on contract, it 

 is safe to say that this policy is based on a belief that the north- 

 ern cut is larger than it really is, and on the further fact that 

 probably the large amount of southern stock shipped from flooded 

 territory as suggested above has resulted in stocking up at some 

 points. Undeniably there is some little hesitancy in all business 

 lines, due to tariff discussion at Washington, but the business ele- 

 ment of the country seems to be almost uniformly of the opinion 



